Well, 2009 will be drawing to a close this evening in a flurry of fireworks and noisemakers, making way for the start of our brand new decade.

This is inevitably the time of year I think back on the events that happened over the past 12 months, what those events brought about and what they may lead to. Since I started this blog back in 2007 it is a wonderful way of looking back on a personal level to see what new artists I discovered, new pals I made and new collaborations that may happen.

But on a larger scale, I’ve been reflecting back over the past decade. At this moment in 1999 I was in Montreal visiting my friend Lisa and geared up for the big Y2K meltdown. I was listening to a lot of Rob Zombie and Radiohead, still flipping out over Fight Club and working my way as a fledgling designer through the web boom. I visited K10k and Designiskinky everyday, watched what new Flash experiments Joshua Davis was up to, all the while struggling to make a cool website for ‘this Signalnoise thing’ I had going. Man, good times.

I struggled this year to come up with an idea for the year-end wrap up post on Signalnoise, but because of lack of time and focus over the holidays it proved to be a bit difficult. However, here are three main items I would like to include on this last day of the decade:

1. Tuts+ Commemorative 2010 Poster
I was asked by the kind folks over at the Tuts+ Network to design an original poster and wallpaper for their big holiday giveaway that has been happening over the last 11 days. Well, tomorrow is the 12th and final day when they will be announcing and showing off the new Signalnoise poster I created for them. They will be giving away 10 copies so be sure to check it out tomorrow morning.

2. Signalnoise Crystal tutorial
Over the next week or so I will be creating a tutorial for the above poster, showing how I created that crystal. I’ve been wanting to provide you readers with more little tutorials over the past while, something I will be making more time to for in the new year. So stay tuned for that one.

3. You guys!
It wouldn’t be a year-end post if I didn’t give a huge shout-out to everyone who has been following and reading Signalnoise. Whether you hit my blog, follow me on Twitter, say hello on Facebook, highfive via Flickr . . . where ever you are, I wanted to send a huge thanks for the support you have given me and the blog over the last year. I only hope I can match your enthusiasm with posts on inspiration, process and other fun stuff. You all rock, thanks so much.

I came across these beautiful photos by Gavin Marchio while running around Ffffound last night. These were taken during the big dust storm that hit Sydney, Australia earlier this year. Simply dumbstruck by these photos, the rich orange hue with the bridge, you can’t get any more sci-fi then that.

It’s almost that time of year when we all leave our desks and Photoshops to sit around the tree, unwrap gifts and drink some nog. For most of us, it’s a much needed unplugged break so we can recharge our Flux Capacitors for the upcoming year. 2009 has been a busy one for a lot of us, time to relax and play in the snow.

Things will be a bit quieter around the blog over the next week or so as I travel home to visit the parents for the holidays. But my Twitter will be close by :)

I’ve been watching the work of Italian artist Alessandro Pautasso for quite some time now and have always been impressed by his command of vector elements to create his bright illustrations.

He just recently uploaded that amazing Marilyn Monroe piece shown above, which motivated me to flick through his portfolio once again. The other two images shown here are part of a series I had not seen before. Beautiful palettes and nice mixture of photo and vector elements. Really enjoy how soft these images feel.

I’m one of those guys who watches very little television. I have cable and all that, but I very rarely sit down and start flipping through the channels to see what’s on, nor do I go out of my way to see the newest episode of whatever. But when it comes to Lost, there’s the exception. I’ve been wrapped up in that show since season 1 and am anxiously awaiting the 6th and final season. It’s gonna be a blowout.

Fabio Sasso and the bang-up team over at Abduzeedo are celebrating their 3rd year this month. 3 years is a long time of sharing inspiration, tutorials, advice and design news around the web and the team shows no sign of letting up. Fabio asked me to participate in the celebration by means of a poster giveaway, and since he has been an amazing supporter of me and my work for a few years now I am hugely honored to be a part of the big event. Shown above is my Abduzeedo 3rd Year Anniversary poster.

The inspiration behind this one is fairly simple: 2001: A Space Odyssey mixed with the Star Trek movie posters by Bob Peak I posted last week. I spent a considerable amount of time building the radium lines in this design, and the PSD file topped 1.4 GB near the end, probably my largest yet.

The massive giveaway is underway with lots of amazing prizes including three copies of this poster, so swing on over to Abduzeedo for your chance to win.

I came across this poster just moments ago on Ffffound and had to put it on the blog. A perfectly executed poster in every way from the type, logo, and creepy sci-fi illustration. Beautiful.

I did a Google search to see if I could find the creator, and wouldn’t you know it, a familiar name. This poster was crafted by designers Anders Baden Nielsen and Joaquim Marquès Nielsen from the Danish design studio Barq. I know Joaquim’s name and work through this website, Jokke-Svin.dk. Good people doing good work :) And you have to see the mega post he made on the creation of this piece. This was all posted a little while ago, no idea how I missed it.